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| ISBN-13: | 9780856833878 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Shepheard-Walwyn Publishers, Limited |
| Publication date: | 01/01/1999 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 224 |
| Sales rank: | 803,319 |
| File size: | 320 KB |
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Friend to Mankind
Marsilio Ficino (1433â"1499)
By Michael Shepherd
Shepheard-Walwyn (Publishers) Ltd
Copyright © 1999 Shepheard-Walwyn (Publishers) LtdAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-85683-387-8
CHAPTER 1
Marsilio Ficino - A Man for All Seasons
ADRIAN BERTOLUZZI
Sow ... this arid field of humankind with good will, and it will at length not only abound with fruit and vines, but also flow with milk and honey.
In the bright firmament of the Italian Renaissance no luminary has suffered in recent times a more unmerited eclipse than Marsilio Ficino. Today in Florence anyone can freely admire the majestic grace of Brunelleschi's cupola. Ficino left no such tangible testimony of his life's work. The influence he bequeathed to posterity was celebrated under the sacrosanct names of Plato, Plotinus, Hermes Trismegistus and Dionysius the Areopagite. But during his lifetime which spanned sixty-six years Ficino was hailed as something of a legend in his own right; recognised as a philosopher, musician and doctor, a healer of souls; celebrated in poetry as a new Orpheus, who once wrote 'May the well tempered lyre always be our salvation when we apply ourselves to it rightly'.
Virtually all his writings were published in his lifetime including his correspondence in twelve books which is an impressive testimony to the wide circle of friends drawn to this 'Marsyas' of the Renaissance.
Ficino clearly had all the makings of a master teacher: one word, one smile would suffice to soften the heart of even the most hardened sceptic. A magnetic personality; disarming in his forthrightness and simplicity of manners, vast in the breadth and scope of his learning; a prodigiously retentive memory. His charming innocence, universal compassion and thirst for true knowledge mark him out as a teacher in the great traditions of religious and philosophical sages who embrace the one universal truth.
At this time there was a concerted impulse to heal the divisions within society which had festered for so long. Ficino was indeed aware of two forces at work in society, the material and the spiritual; these spring from the nature of the soul which has a dual aspect. As he says in one letter, the soul is set on a horizon midway between the eternal and the temporal: 'it is capable of rational power and action which lead up to the eternal but also of energies and activities which descend to the temporal'. When either of these two halves are ignored or neglected so that they appear to be at odds with one another, society tends inevitably to run down and become fragmented; divisions and rifts manifest with greater force and frequency. According to Ficino the remedy for this malaise is selfknowledge which brings these two aspects once more into clear focus and into accord: 'thus the Delphic injunction "know thyself" is fulfilled and we examine everything else, whether above or beneath the soul, with deeper insight'. Ficino's or rather Plato's teachings provided this very insight; and with these two sides of man's nature fully acknowledged again, a healing process was set in motion; equilibrium was being restored to society, and the very same century that had witnessed such acts of intolerance as the persecution of the Hussites and the burning at the stake of John Huss and Jerome of Prague, also saw the ending of the long schism which had divided the church between Avignon and Rome, and experienced a great outpouring of creativity in all the arts, that miraculous reawakening of the human spirit vividly described in Ficino's own words as a golden age, one that brings forth golden minds in abundance, a spirit which is still present to us five hundred years on.
Marsilio Ficino was the second son of Diotifeci Ficino, who became a personal physician to Cosimo de Medici, head of the richest and most powerful family in Florence, bankers to a succession of Popes.
Cosimo was to play a crucial role in Ficino's resolve to devote his life to philosophy. Himself a man of heroic resolve: as witnessed in his confrontation with the powerful Albizzi faction, his imprisonment, exile and triumphant return to Florence one year later (1434) as undisputed ruler. Adversity had made him single-minded and resolute: as Ficino would say, the spirit is tried and made strong in adversity as gold is purified in fire. Cosimo's extraordinary love of the classical world, its art and literature, showed itself early in his life when he tried to visit the Holy Land in search of manuscripts. Later he would become one of the most discerning and generous patrons in history. But he was also drawn to philosophy. Ever since a providential meeting with the Byzantine philosopher Gemistos Plethon, regarded as the living embodiment of Plato himself, which took place at the Council of Florence in 1439, Cosimo was so fired by this philosopher's account of Plato's Academy and teachings, that it became his one overriding wish to restore Plato's philosophy to Italy. An early meeting with Ficino when he was still a young boy had raised his expectations that here was someone who might have the potential to accomplish this task. It was his second and decisive meeting with Ficino, now a university student, that finally convinced Cosimo he had made the right judgment. Ficino had just embarked on a course in medicine, intending to make it his life's career in deference to the wishes of his father, but in a dramatic intervention Cosimo recalled Ficino to the study of philosophy and the healing of souls. Ficino's conversations with Cosimo on philosophy began from this time forward, and a deep bond of friendship based on mutual trust was forged between the two men. Cosimo was now taking a close interest in Ficino's studies and even encouraged some of his early writings, including an introduction to Plato and his philosophy based mainly on Latin authors, but Cosimo advised Ficino to master the Greek language and 'drink from the source' before proceeding further with his study of Plato.
When Ficino had mastered Greek and had translated some key texts including the oracles of Zoroaster and the hymns of Orpheus, Cosimo commissioned Ficino to translate the whole of Plato (1462), giving him a volume containing Plato's Dialogues in Greek; the Platonic Academy of Florence was set up at this time, probably to coincide with this commission. The real purpose of this so called Academy was to teach Plato's philosophy as a way of life; gatherings of like-minded friends met within its walls, with Ficino defining true friendships as a fellowship between those men pursuing the same goal - the virtue of wisdom.
At about the same time a school modelled on the Athenian Lyceum where Aristotle taught was established under John Argyropoulos a disciple of Plethon's. Its purpose seems to have been to study the writings of Aristotle as a preparation for the Platonic teachings. This venture also had Cosimo's support.
Around 1463 Cosimo suddenly interrupted Ficino's work on Plato, giving him a new commission, to translate a manuscript which had just come to light containing writings of Hermes Trismegistus, an Egyptian priest and sage, believed by ancient authors to have lived at the time of Moses, and to have imparted his secret teachings to Moses. Later these teachings had passed to the Greek Orpheus, whence they had also been handed on to Pythagoras and Plato. Ficino was convinced that the Hebrew and Greek wisdom sprang from a common ancestry.
Just before Cosimo's death in 1464, Ficino presented him with his translation often of the shorter dialogues of Plato; and as if to mark this happy event, in a letter to Cosimo Ficino declared that the spirit of Plato, alive in his writings, had flown from Athens to Florence to be with Cosimo. On hearing these dialogues read to him for the first time Cosimo was overjoyed, realising that Plato's philosophy had finally reached Italy.
Cosimo's son Piero, the 'Gouty' who succeeded him, was weak and ineffectual due to ill-health. The period he was in power was overshadowed by plots and instability, but Piero supported Ficino and remained loyal to the spirit of Cosimo. He encouraged Ficino to continue his work on Plato and to give public lectures on Plato's philosophy which were held in the University. These lectures were important because they opened out the teachings for the first time to a wider audience. Ficino had almost completed a first draft of his translations of Plato on Piero's death in 1469. But a further period of uncertainty followed whilst power was being transferred to his son Lorenzo de' Medici. Ficino describes this time as one when 'envious fortune' interrupted his work on Plato. Uncertain whether the young Lorenzo would be capable of establishing his political authority and giving his full backing to the Academy, it seems Ficino visited Rome in search of potential new patrons. This coincided with a hotly debated controversy over the respective merits of Plato and Aristotle between Cardinal Bessarion and George of Trebizond. But Bessarion, a former pupil of Plethon's and a staunch ally of Ficino's, saved the day in his exemplary defence of Plato published in 1469. This work marked an important milestone in getting Plato's moral teachings accepted as being in harmony with Christian values and as a powerful medium to educate society. Bessarion was a leading authority on Plato, being one of the few men in Italy to possess a volume of all his Dialogues in Greek, and he made full use of the new invention of printing recently introduced into Italy.
This prepared the stage for the next phase, expounding the spiritual heart of Plato's philosophy within the Academy, which took place in Florence under the protection of Lorenzo de' Medici. Lorenzo became a pillar of the Academy both in the financial support he gave and in his own active participation. This work of the Academy was to continue for the next twenty years under Ficino's direction. Members included some of the closest friends and supporters of the Medici who were actively involved in government and this gave the Academy more authority and influence. In these early years of Lorenzo's rule, activities of the Academy were conducted quite openly and meetings were held in the Medici villas; also under the auspices of a lay confraternity patronised by the Medici, the Confraternity of the Magi.
In his letters Ficino appears to endow Lorenzo with heroic qualities which acted as a reminder of those qualities he really possessed and which should be made manifest. At his best, according to Ficino, Lorenzo gave each of the three Graces their due: Venus – poetry and the arts; Juno – power and government; and Minerva – wisdom. But there were two sides to Lorenzo's personality; on the one hand he was a gifted poet, diplomat and statesman, a promoter of fine causes; on the other he could be proud, ambitious and impulsive; negative qualities reflected in his choice of friends. Whereas in the early years of his rule Lorenzo devoted much time to the Academy and Ficino, as the business of government grew more demanding, and claimed more of his attention, this diminished and a rift of sorts developed between the two men. Lorenzo became estranged from Ficino especially in the period leading up to the Pazzi Conspiracy. Ficino's close association with Lorenzo became the butt of slanderous jibes and insinuations from the pen of certain members of Lorenzo's own court circle; the Academy was also under attack. Foremost among these was the satirical poet Luigi Pulci – the 'flea' a favourite with the Medici for the comic relief he provided at table. Pulci was a buffoon who liked pranks and stirring up trouble of all sorts. To him the serious study of philosophy was incomprehensible. Pulci wrote a gargantuan poem Morgante, based on a Carolingian epic about Charlemagne's court and his knights, full of absurd situations and bizarre characters one of whom is called 'Marsilius', a treacherous infidel King of Spain who comes to a sticky end in the final canto. Later Pulci's poem, which also satirises religious belief, had the dubious distinction of being burnt on one of Savonarola's bonfires of vanities.
Ficino was not one to be troubled by a flea like Pulci. He had a remarkable sense of humour of his own and he could turn adverse situations like this one to advantage. His witty sayings in Tuscan were proverbial and were remembered long after his time. All that really concerned Ficino was the influence that the likes of Pulci could have on Lorenzo. Whilst Pulci's sonnets caricatured Ficino and the Academy, the Academy parried with sonnets of its own; but as this episode occurred at a difficult time for Ficino, some of Pulci's sonnets must have seemed like the last straw:
Marsilio this philosophy of yours n'er heard
from the lips of any mortal.
You put it to rest at nones
only to spout it forth again in babble and lunacy.
Thus the prophecy comes true
your lyre to utter : play me, play me!
Sonnets to me? Sonnets to you I say.
You poke a fire! let it scorch you,
you'll have it up your backside ere long.
Horrid pipsqueak!
lop off the blockhead, dock his tail!
What sayest thou? What translatest?
Plato! a plague on him and you as well.
Swearest an oath upon philosophy!
Nani, Nani! (dwarf)
one day at Careggi you spouted forth so much
that wilt have no more to say unless thou mug'st up more.
Ficino was able to brush off the slanderous jibes of the 'flea' Pulci; but the Pazzi Conspiracy to oust the Medici from Florence which had the Pope's backing, represented a very serious challenge not only to Lorenzo and the Republic but also to the Academy itself, probably the greatest threat faced by the Academy at any time during its existence. If the plot had succeeded it is hard to see how the work of the Academy could have continued. Following the failure of the coup, Lorenzo was excommunicated by the Pope, and the Florentine Republic was surrounded by a hostile alliance of states. Yet, according to the French envoy, Lorenzo's sole crime in the eyes of his enemies had been his failure to get himself assassinated.
Ficino remained in the background during this critical period, although his passivity was questioned by at least one of his friends, the Venetian Ambassador Bernardo Bembo. But he did play a key role behind the scenes: two magnificent orations were addressed to Pope Sixtus IV, the main adversary of Florence, as well as an oracle to King Ferdinand of Naples in the cause of peace; and Ficino almost certainly gave advice to Lorenzo who faced further conspiracies against his life and who found himself universally blamed by friends and family alike for attracting so much hostility against the Republic, with the Medici Bank on the verge of collapse and the City of Florence on the verge of starvation. But Lorenzo's courageous and impromptu mission to Naples to detach Ferdinand from the hostile alliance saved the day. Because Ficino had corresponded with two of the main conspirators and had most probably received financial support from them, and the fact that a third conspirator had been a long standing member of the Academy, Ficino was himself suspected of complicity in the plot and was under investigation. Indeed it is thought Ficino even briefly considered leaving Florence to join one of his Roman patrons. But the whole crisis, far from alienating Lorenzo still further from Ficino, actually brought the two men closer together. During this period Ficino wrote some of his most inspired and moving letters to Lorenzo, one on the unity of their guardian spirit, and another on the harmony between country life and city life represented by Saturn and Apollo, the two aspects of daily life that Lorenzo found so difficult to bring together.
In the late 1480s Lorenzo was completely reconciled with the Academy and during the last part of his life he seemed to reach a new level of understanding and humanity, fully justifying the heroic praises lavished on him in the beginning by Ficino. One letter of Ficino's written in 1491 to a friend is entitled 'On the four kinds of divine frenzy and the praises of Lorenzo de' Medici'. It begins: 'In our time we have known a most blessed spirit ...' A portrait of Lorenzo in one illuminated manuscript of this period (Biblioteque Nationale, Paris) reveals his fine ascetic features and expresses that quality of inner peace and serenity which he now enjoyed. Lorenzo's death in 1492 was accompanied by storms, natural catastrophes and omens, which Ficino said, follow on the death of great heroes.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Friend to Mankind by Michael Shepherd. Copyright © 1999 Shepheard-Walwyn (Publishers) Ltd. Excerpted by permission of Shepheard-Walwyn (Publishers) Ltd.
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Table of Contents
Contents
Foreword,Introduction MICHAEL SHEPHERD,
Marsilio Ficino - A Man for All Seasons ADRIAN BERTOLUZZI,
A Man of Compassion CLEMENT SALAMAN,
In Praise of the One - Marsilio Ficino and Advaita ARTHUR FARNDELL,
Fellow Philosophers LINDA PROUD,
Ficino's Influence in Europe VALERY REES,
Ficino on the Nature of Love and the Beautiful JOSEPH MILNE,
Ficino and Astrology GEOFFREY PEARCE,
Ficino and Portraiture PAMELA TUDOR-CRAIG,
Dean Colet JENIFER CAPPER,
Ficino and Shakespeare JILL LINE,
Music and Marsilio Ficino JOHN STEWART ALLITT,
Ficino on Law and Justice LESLIE BLAKE,
Translating Ficino PATRICIA GILLIES,
Marsilio Ficino: Magus and Cultural Visionary THOMAS MOORE,
Marsilio Ficino and Medicine CHARLOTTE MENDES DA COSTA,
A Little Lesson in 'Counter-Education': A Dialogue with the Ghost of Ficino on the Theme of Psychotherapy NOEL COBB,
Marsilio Ficino on Leadership DAVID BODDY,
Ficino's Message to the Church Today PETER SERRACINO-INGLOTT,
Further Reading,
The Contributors,